Volta
Person1755 – 1829

Paul Barras

Also called: Barras

Convention deputy who led the Thermidorian Reaction and became the strongman of the Directory until the coup of Brumaire

Born a nobleman at Fox-Amphoux in Provence in 1755, he served as a soldier against the British in India. Elected to the Convention in 1792, he voted for the execution of Louis XVI, and as representative on mission at the siege of Toulon in 1793 he came to know the young artillery officer Napoleon. Accused of harsh reprisals in Toulon and Marseille, he led the Convention’s forces that arrested Robespierre on 9 Thermidor 1794. In 1795 he used Napoleon to crush the Vendémiaire rising and became one of the five Directors, remaining the strongman of the Directory throughout, though notorious for corruption. Pushed aside by the coup of Brumaire in 1799, he died at Chaillot near Paris in 1829.

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3 related events

  1. 1
    1794Thermidorian Reactionkey figure

    Fearing they would be next, deputies had Robespierre arrested and executed; the Terror ended and the Revolution turned in a moderate direction.

  2. 2
    1795 – 1799The Directorykey figure

    Under the Constitution of Year III five Directors and a two-chamber legislature ran France, relying more and more on the army amid revolts and coups from left and right.

  3. 3
    1799Coup of 18 Brumairerelated figure

    Back from Egypt, Napoleon joined Sieyès to overthrow the Directory; the Consulate was set up with Napoleon as First Consul.

People who appear alongside

  • Napoleon Bonaparte1769 – 1821

    Revolutionary general, later Emperor of the French

  • Maximilien Robespierre1758 – 1794

    Jacobin leader who dominated the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and was guillotined after the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794

  • Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès1748 – 1836

    Cleric and political theorist whose pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? opened the Revolution and who plotted the coup of Brumaire with Napoleon in 1799

Themes this person appears in

  • The French Revolution1787 – 1799

    From the Assembly of Notables and the Estates-General to the coup of 18 Brumaire — twelve years that toppled the absolute monarchy, founded a republic, passed through Terror and reaction, and ended with Napoleon